BCHL Award Winners Named for 2016-17 Season

Brendan Harris was selected for two BCHL awards, plus a third that did
not require voting, to add to coach Bliss Littler's Joe Tennant Memorial
Trophy for a total of four awards for the Wenatchee Wild. (Garrett
James photo)

As the BCHL Playoffs commenced this weekend, the annual BCHL Awards
were handed out on Thursday and only in their second season in the BCHL,
the Wenatchee Wild took home the most hardware. There was a list of
three finalists for each award, one from each division. The winners were
chosen after a second round of coach voting.

Vern Dye Memorial Trophy (League MVP) / Bob Fenton Trophy (Most Sportsmanlike): Brendan Harris, F, Wenatchee WildHarris led the BCHL in scoring with 98 points while scoring only 23
goals. He also led the league in assists with 75. Harris only missed one
game all season and only accumulated 14 penalty minutes winning the Bob
Fenton Trophy most sportsmanlike player in the league. He helped the
Wild lead the league in goals with 294. The Henderson, Nevada native is
off to Bemidji State in the fall.

Bruce Allison Memorial Trophy (Rookie of the Year): Cam Donaldson, F, Powell River KingsDonaldson led all rookies in points with 69 and tied for goals scored
with 32. He averaged 1.28 points per game and led the River Kings in
GWG with seven. The small, speedy forward is committed to Cornell and
will take his talents to Ithaca, NY beginning this fall.

Top Defenceman Award: Jake Stevens, D, Victoria GrizzliesStevens was a cog on the blue line for Victoria, he was on the ice
for every game and played a ton of minutes. A key power play performer
as well as one of the teams top penalty killers, Stevens scored eight
goals and totalled 53 points for the Island Division Champions. He
finished second in the league for defenceman scoring and saw a huge jump
in points from a season ago where he only had 19. The Naperville,
Illinois native will head to Canton, NY and play for St. Lawrence
University in the fall.

Other finalists for top defenceman were Tyler Anderson from the
Prince George Spruce Kings and Michael Ufberg from the Vernon Vipers.

Joe Tennant Memorial Trophy (Coach of the Year): Bliss Littler, Wenatchee WildLittler led the only American team in the league to the Ron Boileau
Memorial Trophy as the team finished with the best regular season record
of 45-9-4 and 94 points. The record is also the best in franchise
history, dating back to the team's tenure in the NAHL.

Other candidates for Coach of the year were Victoria's Bench boss
Craig Didmon and Penticton Vees longtime head coach Fred Harbinson.

Awards that did not require voting included the Brett Hull Award, Goaltending Award and Wally Foslund Award.

Harris made it three by winning the Brett Hull Award for top scorer.

Vernon Vipers goaltender Darion Hanson won the Goaltending Award with
lowest goals-against average (and a minimum of 1,000 minutes played) at
1.84.

The Wally Forslund Award for the goalie tandem with the lowest
combined goals against average went to the Penticton Vees duo of Mat
Robson and Nolan Hildebrand with a combined GAA of 2.14.

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